He Will Come to Judge the Earth (Revelation 20.11-15)

Introduction

Yes, today is the First Sunday of Advent which means that this is the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day. Advent calendars, Advent wreaths, Advent candles start here. If you’re a regular churchgoer, you know that Advent is from the Latin adventus meaning “coming” or “arrival.” You hear this every year in church because most preachers feel they haven’t quite done their duty if they don’t say it yet again.

The colour associated with Advent is purple which is supposed to symbolise sorrow and fasting (Why is fasting purple? Don’t ask). It’s ironic isn’t it, how many people do you know who are going to be eating less in the run up to Christmas? But purple is also symbolic of royalty because Advent looks back to celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace and looks forward to the return of the King of kings.

Why did Jesus come the first time? He told us: “It’s not the well who need a doctor but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance, but sinners.” “The Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.” “I have come that you may have life in abundance.”

So we know why he came the first time.

What we’re going to be doing over the next three weeks in our morning services is ask why he is coming the second time. When Jesus returns what will he do then?

It’ll be nothing like the first time. Then he appeared as meek and on a donkey; this time he will appear as mighty and on a conqueror’s horse. Then he came in poverty. This time he’ll return in power. Then he was rejected as King of the Jews; this time he’ll be revered as King of kings. Then he said, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.” But this time the clock will have run down and there will be no more opportunity for repentance; he will judge the earth. He’s coming back to judge the living and the dead.

Judgement

The editors of the World Christian Encyclopaedia once did a remarkable study. Going through the whole Bible, they counted 735 different future predictions in the Bible. And they calculated that that amounts to roughly 27% of all Bible verses. Then, with an open Bible at one end of the desk and a stack of history books at the other, they found that 596 of the 735 prophecies recorded in Scripture have already been fulfilled, which is about 81%. Of the 19% of biblical prophecies that have not yet been fulfilled, that’s 139 different prophecies, most are about the return of Christ and the end of the world – including those found in our passage from Revelation this morning.

Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and everyone was judged according to what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. All whose names were not found written in the book of life were thrown into the lake of fire.

Revelation isn’t the simplest book of the Bible is it? But, even if we have to pass on one or two of the details, this passage is clear enough.

What a scene! There’s a grand white throne, maybe made of marble or ivory, and “one who was seated on it” but it doesn’t say who. We know from Acts 17 that it’s a human being because it says, “God has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed.” And we know from our reading from John’s Gospel this morning that that man is Jesus. “God the Father has given his Son authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.”

That means two things: firstly, everyone will acknowledge that what he decides is totally fair; he will judge the world with justice. Secondly, no one will be able to complain. We will be assessed by one who lived under the same pressures that we do. Jesus knows what is in the human heart. He just has to look at us and knows us through and through.

In this vision everyone, dead and alive, has been summoned before Christ in a great and awesome day of reckoning. There’s nowhere to hide. It’s the moment of truth.

The Evidence

Psychiatrists now know that we all possess a complete record of everything we have ever said and done. All of us, from the moment we are born, log absolutely everything in the complex data storage system that is the human brain. All our words, feelings, actions, and thoughts are neatly filed.

Now, as you know, the two characteristics of old age are a bad memory and… err… what was the other thing again?! So you might say, “Well I can’t remember what I was thinking on a certain day when I was a child. In fact, I can’t even remember what I had for dinner last Monday.” But that’s because most of our memories are stored in the subconscious layer - and that’s increasingly true as we get older - but the reality is that it’s all in there somewhere.

If you’ve ever lost files in a computer crash without having any of them backed up, you’ll know that, as annoying things go, it’s up there with finding your car damaged with no note left on the windscreen and having your tour operator go bust a week before your £2,000 holiday and you weren’t insured. I have, on three occasions in my life, lost practically everything on my computer, because I had minimal or zero backup. Get one of these.

God has a full backup of your mind and mine in heaven - and this is what it means in v12 where it says, “books were opened.” They’re books about my life and yours and I believe that when we come face to face with God, all our subconscious records will move up to the conscious level and we will have to acknowledge that everything he says about us is absolutely right. There’ll be no lawyer clever enough to find loopholes. There’ll be no miscarriages of justice. We’ll have to hold our hands up and say, “Well, the evidence is there for all to see, and I have no complaints.”

This Is Your Life

When I was young, I used to watch a TV programme in which a presenter surprised a celebrity, or someone who had done a lot for charity, by presenting them with a big red book with gold letters on the cover; “This is Your Life.” Do you remember that show – or has it slipped down into the subconscious already?

Any researcher working on “This is Your Life” will tell you that in doing the background work to make the programme they often uncovered embarrassing information about the celebrities that they had to suppress for the show. They only broadcast the presentable bits of course. Sometimes though, despite their best efforts, the personality made sure the audience saw their dark side as well. In 1983 a well-known boxer appeared ‘live’ on the show worse for wear after a few drinks - and he spent the whole time using of foul and abusive language to describe his best friends who later appeared right before him, flown in especially from Australia and America!

When the book of my life and yours is opened on the day of reckoning, it’ll all be there. Our lives in their best light and the dark side as well.

When the snooker player Stephen Hendry was on the show, aged 21, he said, “This is your life? I’ve hardly had a life yet!” Ah, but by the time I was 21 I’d done enough for my mother to disown me if she only knew the half of it. How many of us would be completely relaxed about having every thought and every deed we had done up to the age of 21 projected onto that screen behind me for everyone else here to see?

Everything recorded in these books will be out in the open, declassified. Talk about Freedom of Information! What I really thought about ‘Mrs. So and So’ on the PCC will be a matter of public record. Every exaggerated expenses claim, every hateful thought, every skin-saving lie, every lustful look, every spiteful remark and worse will be revealed.

The Verdict

Alfred Nobel was a Swedish inventor, chemist and engineer. He owned an iron and steel plant which he turned into a major armaments business. It was there that his research and development of nitroglycerin led him to the invention of dynamite which he patented and amassed a vast fortune from.

In 1888 a newspaper erroneously reported his death. In fact, it was his brother who had died so Nobel read his own obituary. Here’s what the headline read; “The merchant of death is dead.” And it went on to say, “Doctor Alfred Nobel, who became rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before, died yesterday.” Nobel was devastated.

He decided from that day on that his legacy should be different. About three years before he died he signed his last will and testament, leaving most of his vast estate (valued today at hundreds of millions of pounds) to establish the Nobel Prizes. There are 4 awards for science and literature, but the fifth is for “the person or society that renders the greatest service to the cause of international brotherhood, the suppression or reduction of armies, or in the establishment or furtherance of peace.”

If your obituary were published prematurely in tomorrow’s paper, what would you like it to say? Would that be any different to what it actually would say? Twice in this reading (in v12 and in v13) it says that the living and the dead were judged not for what they had believed but for what they had done.

Whatever people think about us, we will have to give an account to God for what we have actually done with our lives. Does this mean then that God will accept us on the basis of our good deeds? Does it mean that we can be saved by works? No, we are justified by faith in Jesus Christ and saved by grace alone. There is no other way. But, even though we cannot be saved by our works, we will be judged by them.

God will open the “Book of my Life” and yours and the proceedings will begin. The Bible says that there is one who accuses us before God night and day. Satan, the counsel for the prosecution will open his case.

“Have you ever knowingly sinned in your life Mr. Lambert?” “Err, yes.”

“Have you ever criticized others for things you have done yourself?” “Well, yes.” “Have you ever gone one day without falling into sin at some point?” “Err, no.”

“Have you always done what you know to be the right thing?” “Not always, no.”

“Has your life been filled with thankfulness in proportion to God’s generosity and authority?” “Let me think… hmm, that would be no as well.”

“I see. No more questioning Your Honour.”

I will look into Jesus’ searching eyes. “Anything to add?” “No, Lord.”

There is another book though that I haven’t talked about yet, and it appears in v12 and v15. This book is actually mentioned 8 times in the Bible; it’s the Book of Life. It’s the complete, unabridged record of Jesus’ perfect life; that’s why its full title is the Lamb’s Book of Life. Turn the cover over and what do you see?

It’s all in there; a flawless portrait of his matchless character;

Chapter 1 - his limitless love
Chapter 2 - his amazing faith
Chapter 3 - his unshakeable integrity
Chapter 4 - his innocent sufferings
Chapter 5 - his endless mercy
Chapter 6 - his awesome authority
Chapter 7 - his total truthfulness
Chapter 8 - his unsurpassed leadership
Chapter 9 - his breathtaking compassion
And on it goes until (last but not least) the short epilogue - his unassuming humility.

Talk about a good read… But the Bible tells us that there are other names in this book as well; whose? I’m going to read three verses from the Bible.

“These women have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life.”

“I will never blot out the names (of those who are victorious) from the book of life, but will acknowledge their names before my Father and his angels.”

“Nothing impure will ever enter (the New Jerusalem), nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.”

So who are these people whose names are in the book of life? It’s all those who have been faithful to Jesus as their Saviour and Master. Do you see now why the Bible says we are “in Christ”? If we are faithful to him our names get written into the record of Christ’s perfect life. That’s why it says we are “included in Christ.” God includes your name into the story of Christ’s flawless life and gives you his perfect righteousness.

But I would be culpable to speak on this passage and close my eyes to v14-15.

“Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. All whose names were not found written in the book of life were thrown into the lake of fire.”

The day of judgement, for some, will open the door to an era of extreme happiness that goes on forever. There will be a new heaven and a new earth. Jesus himself and all who belong to him will be there. There will be glorious new bodies which will never grow old. There will be no death there, no grieving, no crying, and no pain. All who belong to Christ on that day will be healed forever.

But for those who refuse the gospel and who reject Christ, it will be a day of devastation. It says that “Death will be thrown into the lake of fire” too and I think that means that the suffering and regret of Christ’s enemies in hell will never end.

This is a serious, unambiguous and repeated warning in Scripture, but in 30 years of being a Christian I can count on one hand the number of sermons I’ve heard on it. No one wants to be unpopular. But I’d rather people said “John Lambert takes the Bible too literally”, than hear God say, “You explained it away too easily.” I’d rather be criticised for frightening people towards heaven that stand accused by God of lulling people towards hell.

Ending

I finish by saying that I can’t talk about all this without having a heavy heart. It upsets me. It pains me. I hope it troubles you too. Most of all, it weighs on the heart of God, who “wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”

And it fires me up to work harder and harder - and pray more passionately, and with tears - that this church, under God, can be more and more a place where God’s glory shines brightly, so that all those whose name is not yet written in the Lamb’s book of life might turn to Christ, so that their name would be inscribed there too.


Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 29th November 2009

The Enemy Within (Romans 16.17-20)

Introduction

You’re walking in a forest and you hear “Timber!!!” The voice sounds really near. Then you hear a slow creaking sound and a loud crack. A tree is about to fall - conceivably on you.

Or you’re standing around beside a golf course and suddenly someone shouts “Fore!” with an element of panic in the tone of voice. A golf ball has been hit badly and is travelling dangerously off course - perhaps towards you.

I’ve never been hit by a falling tree or by a stray golf ball – but I spent most of my weekends as a boy racing sailboats on the Thames, crewing for my dad. I learned to duck quickly whenever I heard my dad shout “Jibe!” It meant the boom was going to swing at great speed from one side of the boat to the other – and, being in the middle of the boat, my head was in the way. And, being a bit dithering and vague, I got hit by a jibing boom on several occasions. “Jibe!” “Eh?” Smack!!! “Ouch!”

Timber, Fore, Jibe; three urgent warning calls that danger is real, close up and imminent.

Why Vigilance Is Essential

The Apostle Paul, finishing off his letter to the Romans, starts to wind it up in v17 with a similar warning; “Watch out!” Picture a runaway chariot, speeding down a cobbled hill in Rome, clattering against the stones, hurtling towards a mother with a pram. The word Paul uses here in v17 “Watch out” is the very word you would have shouted as soon as you saw that chariot. It’s a word that expresses something urgent and pressing and critical. There’s a lunatic running amok in the street with a knife. The word Paul uses here in v17 is what you would shout to a friend to warn him about the danger. “Watch out!”

What do you think a young and growing Christian community would need to watch out for? We’ve been thinking a lot about spiritual warfare in the last few months; principalities and powers, strongholds and footholds, armour and weaponry – all we need for the battle out there. But the sobering thing about tonight’s readings from God’s word is that sometimes the battle is not out there in the big bad world. It’s in here, in the church. Sometimes we have to do battle with an enemy within.

One of the key features of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan – and one of the reasons why they were, and are, so difficult to win – is enemy insurgents infiltrating local police or armed forces. Just last week, tragically, you’ll have seen the news, five British soldiers came under machine gun fire and were killed by a man who had gained access to their quarters by joining the Afghan army as a trainee. In the same week a disillusioned loner in the American military opened fire on his brothers in arms in a base in Texas. 100 bullets. 29 injured. 13 fatalities.

I don’t know what the answer is to all that. But I do know what the answer is in the spiritual realm, because God gives it to us here in Romans 16. And we’re going to look at that together in a minute.

Truth or Love?

But first of all, let me tell you about two friends of mine; Margaret and Patrick. They are both real people and neither is from here. Margaret once said to me something like this; “What we need is unity and love. People go on about what we have to believe. Truth is important, don’t get me wrong, but if I had to choose between love and truth, I’d take love every time.” Patrick takes another view. “Only one thing has any value; the truth that Jesus died for my sins on the cross – everything else is unimportant.”

Who’s right? What do you think is most important in the Christian community? Is it truth or unity? In other words, is it more important that we hold on to the truths established in Scripture and passed on to us? Or is it more important that we keep the Church together as a loving, united community? Verses 17-18 give us something to go on.

“I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people.”

So – what do you think? Margaret would say, “Look, it says here, ‘watch out for those who cause divisions,’ because what we need is unity.” Patrick would say, “Look, it says here, ‘watch out for those who put obstacles against teaching you have learned’ because what we need is the truth.”

And of course we want both, don’t we? If you drift away from what the Bible says you’ll get spiritually unhealthy and eventually you’ll die because Jesus said “my words are spirit and they are life.” And if we drift away from each other, becoming unloving and disunited we’ll lose our cutting edge because Jesus said “all people will know you are my disciples by the love you have for one another.”

I wonder if we naturally tend towards an approach that says, “Look, nobody has the whole truth, everybody sees things differently, let’s celebrate difference, and keep our unity, let’s not divide over these matters, let’s be a broad church.” Is that so bad? The thing is, Paul does care about unity here. That’s why he says, “Watch out for those who cause divisions.”

Here’s the key to unlocking this problem of truth versus unity; it’s not refusing bad teaching that damages unity in the church – the real harm is done when we just accept it uncritically. It’s not rejecting strange doctrine that is unloving – it’s tolerating weird ideas and new fads and unbiblical novelties whenever they appear that shows we are too scared to fight for the spiritual wellbeing of our brothers and sisters in Christ.

In both our readings tonight Paul talks about Satan in the context of people, in churches, promoting beliefs contrary to wholesome, healthy, biblical teaching. And there still are. It’s spiritual warfare of a different kind. “For such persons are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.” He still does. “Give them a wide berth” says Paul.

If you’re under 30, you were born in an era of human history where it is very hard to be a lover of truth. Lovers of truth in 2009 will spend their whole lives resisting pressure to conform to the dominant worldview of this age – which is the post-enlightenment belief that there is no truth (there’s just opinion), there’s no absolute right and wrong (there’s just differences) and that everything is relative (it just depends on your perspective).

Do people really infiltrate churches and sweet-talk people with false teaching? Yes. I’ve seen it happen in London and in Paris. I’ve seen how young, impressionable Christians, hungry for new experiences of God, desperate for some kind of spiritual sensation or some new thing that’s taken off elsewhere, easily became attracted by the promise of success, health, happiness, revival and personal fulfilment - and then it ends in tears. It’s the enemy within.

I want you to look at several cases of the enemy within in the New Testament. You have an envelope on your table with a passage from the Bible. I’m going to give you a few minutes to read the passage and try and answer the questions…

For discussion in groups of 10 people

Galatians 1.6-9 and 3.1-6
Colossians 2.16-23
2 Corinthians 11.3-11
Jude 3-13
1 John 2.18-26

What does the author say here, if anything, about the behaviour of ‘the enemy within’? 
What clues does this passage give about what ‘the enemy within’ was teaching? 
What, if anything, does the passage say about the effect this had on the church?
These questions might seem irrelevant – but they are important because Satan still does the same sort of thing in the same kind of way today. Know your enemy!

I think the key words to note about his behaviour are subtlety, pride, confusion, competitiveness, deception and greed for money.

The key strands on what they were teaching are, I think,

• legalism – it’s all man-made and focused on what you do
• mysticism – spiritual techniques or experiences and an emphasis on angels
• getting Jesus all wrong – it’s another Jesus, or they’ve lost connection with the head, or they’re denying Jesus Christ.

Be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil. What does that mean? I think “be wise about what is good” means keep your brain switched on, be level-headed, check stuff out, don’t just swallow what someone says because they’re on God TV or write books. The Message translates it, “I want you to be smart, making sure every ‘good’ thing is the real thing.”

What about “Be innocent about what is evil?” I think it’s about not being naïve. Don’t be easy to fool. Again, the Message translates it well; “Don't be gullible in regard to smooth-talking evil.”

And, v20, “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” His defeat is comprehensive and complete.

Past: Satan has been irretrievably doomed by the resurrection of Christ from the dead.

Future: Satan will be finally defeated and thrown into hell, never to deceive the world again, when Christ returns victorious.

But tonight’s emphasis has been on the present. What is the situation now?

Preset: Satan is being beaten back every day by Christ through believers like you and I wearing the full armour of God and speaking the word of truth. You may say, “Alleluia.”


Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 15th November 2009

Forgive Us As We Forgive Those... (Matthew 18.21-35)

Have you ever noticed what happens when you get to line 5 of the Lord’s Prayer? Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done… Up to that point the focus has been entirely on God. Father, your name, your kingdom, your will… But when you arrive at line 5, as we did last week in our series on the Lord’s Prayer, the focus changes from him to us. Give us daily bread, forgive us our sins, lead us away from temptation, deliver us from evil.

That’s no accident. There’s a reason for it and I call it the shirt button rule. When I was a small child, learning to dress myself, every morning I seemed to do my shirt buttons up wrongly. Most days, I would start in the middle and work up… “Oh, two buttons left and only one buttonhole. It’s not straight. OK, let’s undo the buttons and start again... This time, start at the bottom and work up. There we go… Oh! It’s still not straight. What’s happened there then? Ahh, that one’s the spare button, that’s why it’s all out of kilter again.” My mum used to walk in and say, “John, you’ve taken half an hour to button your shirt and it’s still all wrong. You’ve got to start at the top with the collar button and then work down.” She was a born theologian, my mum.

Here’s the shirt button rule: In all my thinking about God, his kingdom, my life, my work, the church, my family, the world – the only way to get it all in the right order, in the proper perspective is to start at the top, with God. If we get God right we get everything else right too. If we take mere human wisdom as our starting point we get God, life, the world, relationships, everything out of line.

Whenever I’m at a crossroads in life; job issues, relationship tensions, money difficulties… top button first - what does God think about this? What would he want me to do here? Or whenever a question raises itself; what about Asylum seekers in Stockton? Should I bother about global warming? What about the plight of the unborn? What should I say about the BNP? Top button first - how does God feel? Where is God on this issue?

Well, we got to the “us” half of the Lord’s Prayer last week. Give us today our daily bread. It’s about asking God for what we need, not necessarily what we’d like. What we need – which is enough to live on, and some to give away. The God we know though Jesus Christ is the God who, according to Psalm 52, owns the cattle on a thousand hills and the wealth in every mine. He is the God who defines himself as Yahweh Jireh – the Lord is my Provider. As SM Lockeridge put it, “No far-seeing telescope can bring into visibility the coastline of his shoreless supplies and no barrier can hinder him from pouring out his blessing.”

But Jesus didn’t just tell us we can pray for food, did he? He also told us that we need to pray for forgiveness - and express to God our readiness to forgive anyone who has wronged us.

Janet needs to forgive Derek for criticising her last week; he didn’t mean any harm and probably doesn’t even know how he hurt her feelings.

Fred needs to forgive a client who inconvenienced him by being late for an appointment. It was a small thing – but it meant he couldn’t get home to see his daughter before she had to go out. And he resented that.

Karen needs to forgive her husband for taking the car before asking if she needed it – which, it just so happened that she did.

I need to forgive the cat for getting me up in the middle of the night meowing.

All these are fictitious, but realistic, examples (except the one about cat, it really did wake me up at 3:00am). These things are all trivial really, but those little bits of gunk that we unthinkingly wash down the plughole end up blocking the drain. And minor resentments, that are not dealt with, over time, become major issues.

For example (and this is a true story) Richard Daley was a famous and popular Mayor of Chicago. He was an absolute giant on the political scene there and was re-elected several times. His total career as Mayor spanned from 1955 to 1976, that’s 21 years, a record that still stands to this day.

One morning his speech writer came to see him to ask for a rise. “I’ve been writing your speeches for years now and my pay is still the same as it was when you first hired me. I think I’m worth a bit more.” Well, Mayor Daley didn’t take kindly to this sort of request so he turned round and said, “Now listen up. You better forget what you just said. The fact that you work for an all-American hero such as Mayor Richard Daley ought to be reward enough.”

The following day, Mayor Daley had an important engagement. He rarely had the time to rehearse his speeches; so what happened usually was that he was briefed on the next engagement on the way there by his staff and he was handed a wad of paper just before he stood up to speak.

So here he is, one afternoon, about to address a huge public gathering to honour all the war veterans of the state of Illinois. Everybody is there; the State Governor, the national TV news crews, all the big cheeses from the armed forces – you name it. And so Daley begins his speech.

“Veterans of Illinois, I stand here today and salute you. The freedom we enjoy today we owe to men and women of valour like you. We are proud of your courage, your dedication, your heroism and your professionalism. And lest anyone forget the sacrifice you have made on our behalf, I announce today a 17 point plan of entirely new policy measures to keep the flame of your noble legacy burning for years to come.”

Everybody holds their breath. You can hear a pin drop. What is the good Mayor going to announce? Seventeen new policy measures? What is he going to say? Everyone wants to know. Mayor Daley himself wants to know! He turns the page of his speech notes and there, written in large letters, it just says, “You’re on your own now you all-American hero!”

If only Daley’s speech writer had been more… forgiving. But have you ever spent hours, or days, or longer harbouring resentment and nursing a seething dislike for someone who has done you wrong? I have. It’s one of the hardest things to stop doing; it’s like trying to get a red wine stain out in the wash - no matter what soap you use it’s always there.

When I was a kid we used to say the Lord’s Prayer at school. And I was always a bit curious about this bit. “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” I wonder how many kids couldn’t get out of their mind the image of a signpost in Jesus’ front garden saying, “Trespassers will be prosecuted” and Jesus coming out and getting really irate because we were treading on his lawn again.

So we had to say, “Oh, forgive us our trespasses.”

Of course, it’s nothing to do with being on anyone’s property and the modern version says “sins” which covers a bit more doesn’t it? “Forgive us our sins.” In fact, more literally, it’s forgive us our sins just as we have forgiven those who have sinned against us.”

I think we know what this means. It is spelt it out uncomfortably for us in Matthew 6.14-15 where Jesus says, “If you forgive others when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” I can’t wriggle out of that one. It means what it seems to mean. Jesus says here that the amount of forgiveness we get from God is directly proportionate to the amount of forgiveness we release to others who have hurt us. I’ll come back to that word “release” later.

Whenever I preach about forgiveness I feel nervous; I half expect someone to say to me afterwards, “It’s all right for you to talk about forgiveness, but let me tell you what happened to me…” And then they tell me about something appalling in their life; ‘A’ was rejected by his mother, ‘B’ was raped by her uncle, ‘C’ was humiliated in public by her husband, ‘D’ and ‘E’ were left out of their parents’ will after years of loving care. ‘F’ became an alcoholic because ‘G’ drove him to it. ‘H’s son committed suicide because he was constantly bullied and the school did nothing.

Saying “I forgive you” to someone who has irrevocably spoiled your life is one of the hardest things it is possible to do. How much forgiving do you have to do?

Apparently, the rabbis in Jesus’ day often discussed this very question. How many times can you forgive the people who have damaged your life before you just can’t do that anymore?

You can just imagine how pulsating those rabbinical council meetings must have been can’t you? “Right chaps, first item on the agenda tonight; matters arising, how many times do you have to say, “Behold, thou hast done much smiting unto my camel, but, lo, that’s OK” before you can legitimately declare, “Hark, thou hast gone a bit too far this time! Verily I say unto thee that thou art not forgiven at all. My camel hath been smote asunder and yea, I have got the hump!?”

And it transpires that the rabbis eventually agreed, after much deliberation, that three times was about right. “Oh, all right, I forgive you. Oh, all right, I forgive you. Oh, all right, I forgive you.” But if you trespassed a fourth time, well, that was different. Nobody had to forgive anyone for anything after three strikes.

So when Peter comes up to Jesus in v21 and says, “Lord, how many times should I forgive someone who sins against me? As many as seven times?” he’s thinking, “This is going to sound extra holy. This will get me the Nobel Peace Prize. Nobody would ever be so gratuitously noble as to suggest seven times.” So when Jesus replies, “No, not seven times…” Peter’s thinking, “Ah, the Lord is going to say to me, ‘No, not seven times Peter. What a saintly man you are choosing the Hebrew number of complete perfection. No Peter, in the real world, I reckon three or four should be about right.” That’s what Peter thinks Jesus is going to say.

So what a shock when Jesus says, “I’m telling you Peter, not seven times, but seventy seven times (or seventy times seven).” In other words, “No counting, Peter; just go on forgiving anyone who wrongs you, and who is truly sorry and repentant, however many times it happens.”

And I love to picture Peter’s stunned face; his mouth open, his lips moving slightly trying to find words that don’t come, his blinking eyes searching for some kind of sign on Jesus’ face this is all a joke… But no Jesus just stands there and looks him in the eye. Peter clearly doesn’t have all the lights on upstairs. “So Jesus says, “Look, it’s like a king who had to settle his accounts with his subjects...”

Well, you know the story. A man owes a lot of money. How much? Ten thousand talents. As the footnote in your Bible says, just one talent was worth about 20 years’ wages for a casual labourer… Twenty years’ pay! That’s one talent. This man owes 10,000. If the average wage in Britain is about £20,000 a year, which is what I’m told it is, then the equivalent sum to the one Jesus gave in this story, for us, would be about £200 million. In Jesus’ day, according to Michael Green, this sum was equivalent to ten thousand times the annual revenue of Galilee, Judea, Samaria and Idumea put together. Just paying the interest would ruin anyone but the super rich.

We think it’s bad being in debt today – and it is. But in that society, debt was devastating. Any lender who was not getting his money back could seize the borrower and sell him into slavery or force him and his family to work night nad day until the debt was paid off. Or he could lock him up in jail and sell off his land or even force relatives to pay off the sums owed. That explains v25; “Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.”

So the man goes to the king, with his heart in his mouth. You know what it’s like when you know it’s going to be “no,” but nothing ventured, nothing gained eh?

(I once made an offer for a Renault Espace that was being advertised for 15,000€. I only had 6,000€. So I made the offer hoping the seller would be totally stupid or desperate. “Look,” I said. “I really like the car. I’m really interested. Have you had much interest yet? No? Good. I’d like to make you an offer. I can’t quite match the asking price of 15 grand, but I’m happy to offer, well, 6 thousand.” Now, I thought the seller would refuse point blank… And actually he did).

But this guy, like me with that car, what has he got to lose? The money lender can only say “no” can’t he? “Look,” he says, “just give me a bit more time and I’ll… I don’t know, I’ll get some cash together, I could borrow a few grand from my parents, maybe sell some old stuff on eBay. I promise you, I will do everything I can to pay it all back.”

And, incredibly, the king lets him off. Moments later the shoe is on the other foot. He bumps into a colleague who owes him three months’ wages; £5,000. I’ve done the maths. The debt is one six-hundred-thousandth of the first debt.

“Give me a bit of time!”
“No, I want it now.”
“Please, just be patient, if you can just wait a couple of weeks…”
“I can’t wait. You’re going down until I get my money back.”

“Forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven also those who have sinned against us.”

The king finds out and when he does he changes his mind about the first servant. He throws him into prison and says, “You’re not getting out until you’ve paid yours.”

Then this devastating conclusion in v35; “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive a brother or sister from your heart.” That’s tough isn’t it? That’s uncompromising, teaching.

The word “forgive” in Greek, the language the New Testament was written in, literally means to let go, to release, to send away. Imagine you’re holding on to a rope attached to a boat. To describe the action of pushing the boat away and letting go of the rope you’d use the same word as the word “forgive.” You’ve got to just let go, you’ve got to release all that pent up frustration and resentment. Let it go!

I was praying with a woman once for physical healing, I can’t remember what sickness she was suffering from. As I was praying I felt the Holy Spirit urge me to ask her if she had had a difficult relationship with her sister. Straight away she stiffened up and folded her arms. All her childhood, her parents had said, “Why can’t you be more like your sister?” All those comparisons, all that humiliation, the pain of not being accepted for who she was…

She talked a bit and then I asked her if she was prepared to forgive. I told her that real freedom can only come when we leave behind our hurts and resentments that are so toxic to the soul. She said to me, “No, I can’t. It’s too much to ask. Can you pray anyway?” I said, “I’m sorry, I can’t. This is the only way through for you.”

You’ve got to let it go. Jesus let go of your sin against him. “Father, forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing.” You’ve got to leave the past in the past and refuse to hold it in the present. Jesus nailed your past to the cross – and it’s still there and your sins he remembers no more.

Colossians 3.13 says, “Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” Someone once came to me and complained about someone else in the church. “I felt really insulted by her. She really upset me. She was bang out of order. You’re the minister, sort her out.”

I said, “Debbie, did she spit in your face?” “I should hope not!”
“Did she pull a crown of thorns down on your head?”
“Did she pull your shirt off your back and give you 40 lashes?”
“Did she make you carry a cross up a hill before a baying crowd?”
“Did she crucify you between two criminals?”
“Did she put a sarcastic sign over your head and leave you to die?”

They did it to Jesus. “Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”


Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 25th October 2009

Taming The Lion (1 Peter 5.6-11)

Introduction

Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up: it knows it must run quicker than the fastest lion or it will be breakfast. Every morning, a lion wakes up: It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve. Satan is a roaring lion looking for someone to devour: when the sun comes up, we’d better be ready to run.

We’re been thinking about spiritual warfare since early September and we’re going to keep doing that until the end of November – so we’re about half way through. What ground have we covered so far? Let’s rerun the tape a bit and remind ourselves what we’ve learned. We’ve seen, as if we didn’t know it already through personal experience, that the spiritual battle is absolutely real. Spiritual warfare is as real as physical warfare.

We don’t really know the origin of the devil because we aren’t given lots of detail in the Bible where he came from. There’s a hint that he is an angel who, with many other angels, rebelled against God and are to this day, living in open revolt against him. There are a few mentions in the Old Testament of the work of the devil, but in the New Testament, as the radiance and the glory of Jesus Christ shine brightly, Satan’s activity and personality are brought into the light and are exposed, so it becomes much clearer that there is this personal force of evil that we have to contend with in the power of the Holy Spirit and under the authority of Jesus Christ.

And people say, “Oh well, of course, this is just medieval superstition. It’s like belief in fairies and goblins.” Jesus believed in the devil; he faced him, he drove out demons and he talked about Satan being thrown out of heaven like lightning.” Some people say, “Well Jesus only believed in the devil because that was just the 1st Century worldview. Everybody at that time believed in the devil.” No they didn’t. The Sadducees, who were amongst Jesus’ opponents, didn’t believe in the devil, the resurrection or anything supernatural at all, and Jesus opposed them publically.

Satan is real and he is a liar, an accuser, a deceiver, a destroyer and a tempter. The Hebrew word for Satan means “Accuser” or “Slanderer” because he slanders God’s name and reputation. That’s why people outside of the church often have such a negative view of God. They say, “Why is he so down on people enjoying themselves?” It’s a false view of God because Satan is a liar, he slanders God before people. He also accuses Christians before God. Day and night he is shouting to God about all your sins and mine. But, thank God, Jesus is our Advocate in heaven and, as Counsel for the Defence, he pleads our case and because he has paid in full the penalty for our sin, he always gets all the charges dropped.

We’re told in 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 8 that when the Lord Jesus returns he “will overthrow Satan with the breath of his mouth, by the splendour of this coming.” When Christ returns he will throw the devil into a lake of fire; a hellish inferno that will never be extinguished.

The Bible talks about war in heaven. The kingdom of God clashes and collides violently with the kingdom of darkness. One of the consequences of that for us is that, sometimes, we get caught up in it - and most of us indicated a few weeks ago that we have gone through seasons of spiritual affliction. That’s what the theatre of spiritual battle looks like.

But Satan looks also to gain subtle footholds in our attitudes and establish strongholds in our thinking through devious means. That’s what we saw last week. It’s a holy discipline for us to take authority and take our thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ. But that is what separates spiritual giants from spiritual dwarfs. The moment that thoughts that are contrary to God’s revealed truth begin to appear spiritual giants say, “Get out of my head” and they bring their thinking back into line with God’s revelation.

Our Default Stance

What we’re going to do tonight is two things. Firstly we’re going to consider what our basic stance should look like most of the time. I’m not talking about times of particular spiritual assault - and God knows we have had some of that here in the last 18 months or so - I’m not talking about seasons of affliction or temptation or attack. I mean every day. Spiritually speaking, what should my default mode be? And secondly, we’re going to see what a lion attack looks like and learn how we ought to respond when the devil springs an ambush.

In our reading from 1 Peter 5 it says that “the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” But in the verses surrounding this statement Peter draws up a list of four qualities that God wants us to cultivate at all times. This is what our basic default stance in the Christian life should look like. He says,

1) humble yourselves, 2) cast your anxieties on God, 3) be self-controlled and 4) be alert.

What I am saying is that these are not actions to take when you come under attack, I don’t think that’s what it means. Peter goes on later to talk about how we should respond the moment the devil strikes. And we’ll come to that later.

But these four; humble yourselves, cast your anxieties on God, be self-controlled and be alert are actions to take all the time so you are ready and prepared - just in case.

Here’s a question; we know the devil opposes us at all times and all places. What do you need to do to get God to oppose you? The answer is “be proud.” Just walk around arrogantly, looking down on people - especially older people - as if you have nothing to learn, criticising what everyone else does but offering no alternative and God will resist you. He has said he will and he will. So if anyone wants to go through life opposed by God, resisted by heaven, hardly growing at all, bearing no fruit, making no impact on the world around, spiritually impotent - then the key is to cultivate a proud, haughty, arrogant attitude.

1 Peter 5.5-6 says, “You who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, ‘God opposes the proud but shows favour to the humble and oppressed.’ Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.” God says the same thing in Proverbs 3.34 and James 4.6 where it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

Pride says “Be superior, promote yourself.” Humility says “Be unselfish, humble yourself.”

So firstly, humble yourselves. Secondly, cast your anxieties on God. Because he cares for you. This is about everyday worries; where am I going to find love, how am I going to pay off my debts and cover the bills, where am I going to get a job, how am I going to deal with an impossible colleague… or whatever. It’s hard to throw your worries and cares on God isn’t it? But consider the alternative; sleepless nights, loss of appetite, bad moods, prescription tranquilizers, comfort eating, counselling and even hair loss.

Thirdly, be of sober mind. This is all about appetites. Having a sober mind means that, by the grace of God, I’m going to think straight. I’m not going to spend money I don’t have, I’m not going to eat food I can’t burn, I’m not going to drink alcohol I can’t manage, I’m not going to visit web sites that I know will take me out of God’s will for my life and I’m not going to pass on gossip I’ve just heard. By the grace of God. As a friend of mine once said to me, “If you haven’t run into the devil lately, maybe you’re travelling in the same direction.”

And fourthly, be alert. Imagine you are on safari, your land rover has broken down in the middle of the savannah, and you’re walking through the bush, knowing there is a pride of lions on the loose somewhere in the area what would you feel like? We’ll, that’s what “be alert” means. Have your wits about you.

Satan as a Lion

The devil is a formidable and impressive adversary. The Bible presents him as an intelligent being. He is associated with tactical slyness and subtle deception. Jesus called him the father of lies (John 8.44). Satan employs several strategies. If one of them fails, he goes on to the next. He looks for weaknesses to exploit. In Matthew’s gospel Jesus says he dresses in sheep’s clothing but underneath the fancy dress he’s a hungry wolf looking to visit carnage on unsuspecting prey.

Here, in 1 Peter he is compared to a ferocious, roaring lion, on the prowl, with the stated ambition of picking off a victim to ambush, kill and sink its fangs into. So how do we fight the lions in our lives – like “lion around in bed?”

I once read a book about the lion’s hunting behaviour. They stalk their prey for hours and hours, observing the pack of buffalo or antelopes or zebras, waiting to see if one will get distracted and become slightly separated from the rest. Once a lion selects its victim it approaches silently, patiently, inch by inch, until suddenly it springs, runs, jumps, pulls its victim down and goes for jugular artery, to suffocate it as quickly as it can and stop it thrashing around in self defence. It tears off flesh and feasts on the still-warm meat. Let’s not get romantic about spiritual warfare. That ferocious, bloodthirsty, man-eating hunter is what God says our enemy is like.

Gus Mills from the African Lion Working Group studies the behaviour of these animals for a living. He notes that, like all cats, lions are strong on acceleration, but weak on stamina. They can burst into a sprint with fantastic power but they are not built to keep it up for long.

That’s why the devil will never pursue you on one particular strategy for a prolonged period. He tends to strike occasionally and with the element of surprise, but he will not persist if he sees you’re a match for him in the chase. In the reading from Luke 4, he lasted with Jesus a few minutes and then, when he saw he was no match for Jesus, the Bible says “he left him until an opportune time.”

Because lions have little staying power they have to get as close to their prey as possible before they charge and pounce. Therefore, they have to conceal themselves when they stalk their prey, and approach for a kill. They hide in long grass; they crouch and crawl low against the ground. They hunt mostly under cover of darkness at night – and especially when there is no moon or plenty of cloud cover. They have excellent eyes that see much better in the dark than we do (in fact, their vision is about eight times better than ours). They always stay upwind of the animals they stalk. They are awesome stealth machines.

That’s how Satan works. As he is a spiritual being, a fallen angel, he operates in the spiritual realm and, as such, sees a lot more than we can. There are spiritual realities all around us that we do not perceive except by a gift of discernment – but he does. He likes darkness and obscurity where things are ambiguous and vague; and he likes to conceal himself. 2 Corinthians 11.14 says he even disguises himself as an angel of light.

To catch their prey, lions have to be quick and clever. If their intended victim is some distance away at first the lions move towards them fairly rapidly. But as they get closer they slow down, hold their heads and bodies as low as they can and focus intently. If the prey looks up in their direction, the lions freeze, then inch forward as soon as the prey bends down to continue feeding or looks away. Eventually, if it is patient enough, a lion will manage to get within striking distance, which is 20-30 metres from the prey.

According to Gus Mills, when a lion runs out and begins the chase, statistically the prey actually has a better than even chance of escaping. It’s only if a particular individual fails to detect the lions in time, or if it stumbles or runs into an obstacle that the odds begin to favour the lion. So, given the odds, lions look to select a victim that is either sick or young or who has become isolated from the herd.

That is what the devil does. He is stalking even now. He is looking for sick ones. They are Christians who are undernourished from not getting enough of the milk and meat of God’s word, who are not getting stronger year on year – they’re suffering from truth decay. That’s easy pickings for a hungry lion.

He picks out the young ones. These are new Christians who aren’t yet experienced in fighting sin. I’ve known so many people who have asked Christ into their heart in a moment of excitement but who have slipped away soon afterwards. They come under pressure from their friends and families. They don’t count the cost and they don’t go the distance – their young faith devoured by Satan, the roaring lion. It’s tragic.

And then Satan goes for the ones who become isolated from the herd. These are solitary Christians, loners, who think they’re alright on their own and don’t get to church very often. They opt out or they just drift towards the edge. Satan notices and draws close to pounce.

Ending - Resist and Stand Firm

All right. Lions stalk zebras and antelopes and buffalo - and God says here that that is how Satan behaves towards us. Because he is always on the prowl we have a default stance and we know what that should look like – that is to say we know from these scriptures how we should be, as Christians, all the time.

But when the devil actually attacks God says to do two things; resist him and stand firm in the faith. What do we actually mean by attacks from the devil? Peter talks about fellow believers throughout the world going through the same kind of sufferings. This letter was written from Rome shortly after the outbreak of persecution under the Emperor Nero. Christians were already being singled out for physical maltreatment, they were being picked on in society, they were being falsely accused of cannibalism (because of the Lord’s Supper) they were having their jobs taken away, their children were being harassed at school, they were losing privileges, they were having the windows of their homes broken.

This kind of persecution is very common today right across the Communist world and certainly in the Muslim world. Some forms of discrimination have crept into legislation in the West now too – people are being disciplined for wearing crosses and being ostracised for having objections in conscience to new working practices that are contrary to God’s Law. We should be under no illusion here; the devil is behind this and he is looking for someone to devour.

Satan attacks in other ways too; false teaching in the Church, fallacious gossip and slurs, acts of vandalism, threats of legal proceedings, assaults on health and seasons of acute temptation are just some examples. And we’ve had to deal with most of the items on that list in the last 18 months. Make no mistake, we have been in a tough battle and we’re not finished yet.

This is a time to stand firm and resist the devil. This is what Jesus did when he did battle with Satan in the wilderness where he was tested. He’d just been filled with the Holy Spirit and he’d been fasting so he was spiritually prepared, but he just stood his ground and spoke out the truth of God’s word - and the devil moved on.

Resist him, standing firm in the faith. If we do, we will emerge stronger from every spiritual conflict and we will be victorious for the battle is the Lord’s. As Moses said in Exodus 14, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today… The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”


Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 18th October 2009

Your Kingdom Come (Luke 10.8-16 and 11.1-4)

Introduction

One day, a vicar was mowing the lawn in his garden when he saw a kitten climbing an apple tree and getting stuck. The poor little thing was very frightened stuck up high on a branch and it was desperate to get down, so it started to meow.

Rather that bother the Fire Brigade with a call out for such a frivolity, he decided to drive his car up to the tree and attach a rope between the branch and his bumper. By backing the car up very gently away from the tree the aim was to lower the branch sufficiently to be able to reach up and rescue the little kitten. So he fixed the rope, started his engine and began to back away from the tree, lowering the branch, when suddenly the rope snapped. It all happened so quickly. When he looked up the kitten was nowhere to be seen.

A week later he goes to visit a parishioner a few doors down the road. Just imagine his surprise when he sees the same kitten curled up on the sofa. So the vicar says, “I’m just curious, but where did you get the kitten from?” “Oh,” says the parishioner, “you wouldn’t believe me if I told you. Last week my little girl was begging me for a kitten. I didn’t really want one but I hated to disappoint her. So I said, let’s pray about it and if God wants you to have one he will answer your prayer. No sooner had we said ‘Amen’ than this little fella flies in through the window! Two miracles vicar! Firstly the answered prayer and secondly a kitten that flies!”

God does answer prayer. Sometimes in remarkable ways…

I’ve got a book of Christian cartoons at home and there’s one with a pastor praying in his office. His secretary comes in, finds him on his knees and says, “Oh good, I thought you were busy working!” In reality, most of us find prayer quite hard. If you do, don’t worry about it, it’s not you. It really is quite difficult. A former bishop of mine, Geoffrey Rowell, once said, “In the contest between prayer and work, work always wins because it’s easier.” That sounds about right to me. Prayer is much harder than work.

You know the Mission that Mother Teresa founded in Calcutta? Well apparently there was a time when the sisters and volunteers were becoming totally overrun by the demands placed on them. There were simply far more helpless mothers, half-dead old men, abandoned orphans, and sick babies than they could keep pace with. They had to turn people back. Open wounds had to be left untended until the next day, leaving them exposed to infection. Desperate children had no option but to go away and sleep in the streets.

So one day one of the novices approached Mother Teresa and said, “What are we going to do? We can no longer cope. We are sending people away. We simply do not have the resources we need. Some of the sisters are discouraged and exhausted.” Do you know how Mother Teresa replied? She said, “Then we shall have to get up in the morning one hour earlier. And we shall spend that extra hour in prayer.”

I’m glad they had Mother Teresa running that place and not me. I would have said, “Then we shall have to get up in the morning one hour earlier to fit more people in.” Because, you see, Geoffrey Rowell is right, in the contest between prayer and work, work always wins, because it’s easier.

So it’s good that when Jesus talks about praying in Matthew 6 he doesn’t say, “Oh just get on with it, it’s not rocket science.” No, he explains how to go about it. “Don’t show off using fancy words,” he says in v5, “it’s not a performance. Be yourself.” “Don’t overcomplicate it,” he says in v6. “You really need to find a private space where you can be alone with God.” “And don’t waffle on and on with long, repetitive lists,” he says in v7, “God knows what you want to say.”

We’re looking at the Lord’s Prayer over this autumn term. The Bible tells us that Jesus gave this prayer in response to the specific question by the disciples. “Lord, teach us to pray.” It’s quite a good question to ask, that. If somebody came up to you and said, “You’re a Christian aren’t you? Oh good. I was wondering, tell me, I have wanted to learn to pray for years; where do think I should start?” What would you say in reply? Would you offer a technique? Would you recommend a book? Would you be lost for words? Do you think you’d mention this prayer?

Jesus gave it to us as a model and it’s perfect. We call it the Lord’s Prayer, but actually it’s ours. “This then is how you should pray”, he said (in Matthew 6.9). And it’s really simple.

“If you want to pray, well here is the sort of thing you can pray about. You can start by praising your heavenly Father; “hallowed be your name.” You can pray that God’s rule of law will be established over the world. “Your will be done on the earth just like it is in heaven.” ‘Your will be done’ doesn’t mean, ‘You know, whatever, Lord.’ Quite the reverse. Margaret Sentamu, wife of the Archbishop of York once said, “As Christians in Uganda, during the Idi Amin regime, we continued to pray the Lord’s Prayer. But… when we prayed ‘thy will be done’ we were praying that God would intervene in this dreadful situation we found ourselves in, which lasted nearly ten years.” “Your will be done” means “let heaven invade earth.”

Then you can ask him about the things you need. There’s no need to grovel or cringe. Just ask - he’s your heavenly Father who loves you. “Give us today our daily bread.” You can pray about relationships, especially for short accounts and for a forgiving heart. “Forgive us our sins, as we also have forgiven those who have sinned against us.” Oh, and pray to resist falling into sin. “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Or, as one child remembered it, “lead us not into Thames station but deliver us some e-mail!”

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name… But what about the third line of the prayer, the line which says, “Your kingdom come?”

The Kingdom

What does Jesus mean when he talks about the kingdom of God? When we talk about kingdoms, we normally think of a geographical entity, a political state with territory, a flag and national anthem, like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia or the United Kingdom. (Actually, the United Kingdom is not really united at all. Ask a Scot, for example, how happy he will be cheering for England during next year’s World Cup! So the U.K. is not united and it's not a kingdom either; other than that, it's quite a good name. Our nation is, in fact, a devolved and increasingly fragmented constitutional monarchy. But the United Kingdom sounds a bit more snappy doesn’t it?

If the U.K. were a kingdom, in the strict sense of the word, it would be governed by an all-powerful monarch, and not by four elected parliaments or assemblies. Queen Elizabeth’s power is symbolic; she reigns but she doesn't rule. But in a kingdom, the sovereign has position – and power as well. The king decides. Full stop. And his people submit, never questioning. There are no elections. There is no parliament. There is no democratic debate. There is little in the way of free speech.

How would you like to live in a country like that? Not so sure? But would you change your mind if the king was always wise and fair, who made sure that no one had to beg, that the sick were given good care and that the old were given a decent life, a king who ensured, that in his kingdom, children could play safely in the streets, a king who loved his subjects so much that was willing, if necessary, to lay down his own life for them? Would you like to live in a kingdom like that?

Everything about the kingdom you live in, is dependent on the character of the king who governs it. With a good king, you have a happy kingdom and loyal subjects. When Jesus came, he said that a kingdom like that was within touching distance. You could get into it. It's not far away now. That’s why the Bible says he preached the good news of the kingdom of God. You can see why it's good news, can't you?
This kingdom, rather than being a geopolitical nation state, I define purely and simply as “wherever God’s reign and rule is exercised and embraced.”

The Kingdom that Comes

The kingdom of God happens to be what Jesus chose to speak about more than any other thing. It as his favourite subject. According to the last verse of the Acts of the Apostles, it was the main emphasis of Paul’s teaching too. “Boldly and without hindrance Paul preached the kingdom of God,” it says.

And Jesus said, that when we pray, we should say, “Your kingdom come.” What exactly do you think that means? I looked up all the references in the New Testament when the words “kingdom” and “come” occur in the same sentence (which, with a computer is fairly easy to do) and I discovered that there are three distinct meanings to that phrase.

1) Within

The first meaning is internal and personal and it comes, for example, in Luke 17.20-21. “Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, ‘the coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, “Here it is”, or “There it is”, because the kingdom of God is within you.’”

He said it to the Pharisees, these churchy, religious, pious men who loved dogma and ritual. “God’s rule has got to be within you,” he said. It means, “I want God’s rule of law to be the decisive factor that guides my heart.” Happy are you if Christ’s authority rules your relationships, your finances, your values, your time. It is a wonderful thing to live under God's government. It is the key to a life of blessing.

Jesus never preached the church; he preached the kingdom. You can go to church all your life and still live independently of God’s rule. Is the kingdom of God just a nebulous concept or does God reign in your heart? This is what was going on when we sang earlier, “Reign in me, sovereign Lord, reign in me. Captivate my heart, establish there your throne.” Did you mean it when you sang it?

2) Around

The second meaning of “your kingdom come” is “Let it break in all around.” This is where the powers of heaven suddenly break in confronting the darkness, with blessing and healing and deliverance from evil spirits and release from oppression and rebirth into new life. Jesus said in Matthew 12.28, “If it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.”

If I’m honest, when I pray “Your kingdom come” that is the guiding, overarching image in my mind. And this is what our second reading in Luke 10 was about, wasn’t it? “When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.’”
This is why we say, “Your kingdom come” when we pray for healing on the streets. Since July the team has prayed for nearly 350 people and we have seen numerous people healed, several lives transformed and a small number of people becoming followers of Jesus. The kingdom is coming in Stockton. May it come more!

Say, “Your kingdom come” when you pray for your friends and family who haven’t yet tasted and seen how good the Lord is. They say that the American preacher D.L. Moody made a list of 100 people, and prayed for them each day, that they would be converted. By the day he died, ninety-six had become Christians. The other four were converted at his funeral. “Your kingdom come.”

3) Everywhere

So the kingdom comes within and around. Every time we say, “Lord, your kingdom come” we mean, “have more of my heart, let your ways be my ways, bring me to a deeper repentance, have your way in my life.” We also mean, “God, do great and mighty works of power in our town and nation; heal the sick, deliver the oppressed, bring a revival of signs and wonders that the world may believe.”

The final sense of “Your kingdom come” is what Jesus meant when he said this at the last supper; “I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” In this sense it’s the future event when God’s supreme reign and rule will finally be established everywhere. One day a voice will proclaim, “the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever.” Until then, we pray for the hastening of that day.

In his book The Pleasures of God, John Piper makes a list of all the blessings of that day. “In the kingdom” he says, “we will inherit the earth and the world, but this is secondary. In the kingdom we will judge angels, but this too is secondary.

“In the kingdom we will reign on earth with Christ and possess power over the nations; we will eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God; the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, the lion will eat straw like an ox; the little child shall play over the hole of the cobra and put his hand in the adder's den; we will beat our swords into ploughshares and our spears into pruning hooks, nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore; justice shall roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream; our bodies will be made new, and God will wipe away every tear from our eyes, and death shall be no more, neither will there be crying or pain or guilt or fear anymore; and we will sit on the very throne of the King of kings - but all these are secondary privileges of the kingdom.

“The main reward of the kingdom, the reward above all others and in all others, is that in the kingdom we will behold the glory of God and enjoy that glory with the very pleasure of God. …The great hope of all the holiest people is not only that they might see the glory of God, but that they might somehow be given a new strength to savour it with infinite satisfaction - not the partial delights of this world, but if possible, with the very infinite delight of God himself.

“Surely this is the river of delights. This is the water of life that wells up to eternal life and satisfies forever.”

O God, let your kingdom come…

Ending

I’d better close - or we shall be here till kingdom come. I think I want to end by leading you all in a prayer that covers each of the three senses of this cry from the heart, “your kingdom come.”


Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 4th October 2009

Our Father in Heaven (Psalm 103.13-22 and Matthew 7.7-11)

Introduction

When I sat down last June and started to ask the Lord about what might be on his heart for this autumn term I felt acutely that we should focus on prayer. And as I have pondered that over the summer I have became more and more persuaded of it. Completely independently, Alan Farish at Stockton was struck by the same conviction over the summer. We both read books about prayer on holiday and we both committed ourselves to pray better. God is calling us, I think, to a deeper commitment to, and a more real experience of, prayer.

All of which is a little daunting because, if we’re honest, few of us find praying easy. In fact, 90% of Christians interviewed say they find prayer difficult (and the other 10% have been known to lie). I don’t find praying easy either. I cannot usually sit down and pray much longer than 10-15 minutes before my mind wanders off down a side track. Actually, I find I can pray most productively when I’m out jogging, so if you’ve ever seen me early in the morning running round Preston Park in a world of my own that’s probably why I didn’t notice you. You thought I was just being rude. In fact, I was communing with the Lord of Hosts!

But I want to say this. Prayer is the key that unlocks so many doors. Just as you’re never going to get a harvest without first ploughing the earth, sowing seeds and watering the ground, you’ll never see God move significantly in your life without an investment of prayer. You just won’t. In James 4.2 God calls a spade a spade when he says, “You do not have because you do not ask.” That’s it, that’s why. Prayer is the connection between what we want God to do and what God actually does. So however hard we find prayer, and practically all of us do, we’ve got to find a way through the fog and make progress.

Praying Christians are positive Christians. Why is that? Because spending time in the presence of God lifts the soul. Praying that the kingdom will come lifts the eyes of faith to see bright new possibilities. That’s why praying Christians are positive Christians. Do you see that? If I am only ever thinking about the sad realities around me, my mind will be full of sad reality and my mood will reflect that and so will my face. If my mind spends time contemplating the potential and promise of God changing my sad realities, my mood will lift and my face will show it. That’s also why my most negative and pessimistic moods in my 30 years of being a Christian have coincided with the lowest ebbs in my experience of prayer.

And just as praying Christians tend to be positive Christians, praying churches tend to be prevailing churches. We have a notice attached to the doorpost of this church that says, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.” I have to be honest with you, since coming here just over a year ago, I have only experienced that God-breathed atmosphere of passionate, believing prayer occasionally. I don’t think we’re there yet. I don’t yet see a faith-propelled rising tide of passion for the coming kingdom in prayer. May God give us this grace in fuller measure.

Because when a church gets it together, and seeks God’s face, and prays heaven down, things happen; people come to Christ one after another, people get filled with the Holy Spirit, remarkable miracles and ‘God incidences’ occur more frequently, ministries get raised up and the church moves forward. I’ve seen this kind of virtuous circle time and again in my ministry – the key is consistent, fervent, believing, prayer. “My house shall be called a house of prayer” says God.

The Lord’s Prayer

So why a series on the Lord's Prayer? Don’t we need to be getting away from saying formal, repetitive, recited prayers? “Our Father which art in heaven… hallowed by thy name… forgive us our trespasses.” It’s a bit of a pity that the Lord’s Prayer has been allowed to become a liturgical drone. The habitual, conventional recital of it has dulled some people’s awareness of the power of this prayer.

The Lord’s prayer is a great yearning, a magnificent calling out to our loving, heavenly Father, whose name is holy, for the coming his majestic reign and rule on earth. “Your kingdom come” means, “Oh God, let the mighty powers of the age to come break into our routine lives and establish your good plan on all over the earth, from pole to pole and from east to west.” I believe that this is a time when we need urgently as a church to strategically pray for the coming of the kingdom here.

But, because the Lord’s Prayer has so much in it, we’re going to take it line by line so we can really savour its truths and engage with its challenges. So this morning we’re just taking the first line, “Our Father in Heaven.” Next week, Terry will speak on “Hallowed be your name” and so on until we get to the end of it sometime in November. That’s the plan.

The Strengths of Fatherhood

My mission impossible this morning is to try to tune our ears to the wonderful sound of the beating of the father heart of God. Jesus said when you pray, say “Our Father in heaven.” Sometimes people say Jesus was doing something radical and new when he called God Father. But he wasn’t, really. In our Old Testament psalm, and many other times in the Old Testament God reveals himself as Father. He was Father even before he was Creator. God has always been a Father because he’s always had a Son he loves. The father heart of God is absolutely central to his character and nature.

They say a father is a man who has replaced the money in his wallet with snapshots of his family. I can confirm that this observation has more than a grain of truth in it. The 5th April 1985 was Good Friday that year – and it was also one of the most significant days in my life, and always will remain so. Just after 10 o' clock that night, our first child Anna was born. A few hours later, I took a taxi home across north London, just overcome. And, in all the emotion, which was just welling up inside me, I sat staring at the streets thinking to myself that my life will never be the same again. My life had been tipped upside down forever by a little person wrapped up in a pale blue sheet weighing 7lb, 4oz.

This new person was no longer an ungainly lump on my wife’s abdomen, but my treasure, my delight, my joy. From nowhere, an army of macho hormones burst into my bloodstream. If anybody laid so much as a finger on my daughter I'd rip them apart with my bare hands! I know that I would unquestioningly stand between her and a mad man with a knife. And, yes, her photo found its way into my wallet replacing good money, which disappeared on cots and nappies and prams and mittens and fluffy rabbits.

Sadly, not all of us have a great mental image of God because our experience of fatherhood is bad. But when you see a good father, you are looking at a portrait of God because God has designed human fatherhood to be a pale picture of himself. Good fathers are strong, they protect and they provide. I have made mistakes as a father with all four of my kids as all dads have. To be honest, it’s a miracle that mine haven’t all grown up with a complex, but in Psalm 103 God gives us some snapshots of what his father heart is like.

Let’s have a quick look at it. Verse 13; “As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.” Compassion is an overused word. These days, even politicians say they are compassionate. Here, it doesn’t mean that God probably ought to be doing a bit more about the poor. It means that he really loves you as his child, that he cares strongly about you and involves himself with what’s going on in your life. “Compassion” in Psalm 103.13 is a heart word that carries emotion; it literally means God really feels for you.

Verse 14: “He knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.” God the Father understands our funny ways, he knows all about our flaws as well as the public face we project. I remember when I first started going out with Kathie. I was petrified because I thought to myself, “Sooner or later I’m not going to be able to pretend anymore - she’s going to see the real me. I bet she’ll dump me when she sees I’m not all I crack myself up to be. But my heavenly Father already knows the absolute scum worst about me, he has seen the dregs of John Lambert, and still loves me to death. What a blessing to be the object of the Father’s acceptance.

Verse 17: “From everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him.” Isn’t this saying the same thing as v13? Yes, it is repeating it to emphasize its significance but it’s saying a bit more besides. God’s heart of love and compassion for you is from everlasting to everlasting. That means long before you were born or conceived, and long after you’ve died, God’s affection for you and his commitment towards you is steadfast, immoveable, unwavering and enduring.

This is the Father we come to in prayer. When we begin the Lord’s Prayer saying together “Our Father,” we’re saying you are such a loving God, you are a compassionate God; I am treasured by you. You are such an accepting God, such a dependable God; I am secure in you. You are strong, you protect and you provide.

And God is not just our Father, he is our Father in heaven. That is to say he is enthroned, surrounded by throngs of adoring worshippers and mighty angels. He is crowned with glory and honour, he reigns on high with all wisdom and authority.

He is unique. He stands alone. “In heaven” means that God the Father is above all. His supremacy has no equal, his love has no limit, his authority has no rival, his mercy has no bounds, his wisdom has no peer, his power knows no match and his kingdom will have no end.

Fearing God

And notice who he is compassionate towards. “The Lord’s love is with those who fear him.”

I once led an Alpha discussion group and it was this expression “fearing God” that one person found incredibly difficult - well, impossible - to accept. She had been married to a man she became scared of, because he was a violent alcoholic. He was a controlling, unpredictable, aggressive man and she was petrified that he would assault her. There’s unhealthy fear and there’s healthy fear. Unhealthy fear of a father is being terrified that he’s going to come home drunk and start shouting, swearing and hitting out. Of course the Bible never means that.

What does it mean for each of us to fear God? John Piper says, “I think fearing God means that God is so powerful and so holy and so awesome to us that we would not dare to run away from him, but only run to him for all that he promises to be for us.”

I think I grew up with a healthy fear of my father. I never felt unsafe with him but I did think twice of doing something he had specifically told me not to do. Healthy fear of a father is a deep respect for his authority and a glad inclination to accept his leadership. It’s good to have a healthy fear. And that’s what the Bible means by it.

So when we say “Our Father in heaven,” we come gladly and we come reverently. We come without the vain presumption that God owes us anything.

Coming to God the Father in Prayer

Which brings us to our Gospel reading. Jesus said, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; those who seek find; and to those who knock, the door will be opened. Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

These words from Jesus are specifically about approaching our Father in heaven in prayer - and the obstacles that prevent us from receiving what he actually wants to give us. It’s one of the most encouraging passages about prayer in the whole of the Bible.

Supposing you say, “I’d love to be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Or “I want to have a greater experience of the love of God.” Or “I need to know I’m truly forgiven.” Or whatever… How do I get through, how do I receive from God in prayer?” What is getting in the way of that prayer being answered?

The first issue is that we wonder if God is going to answer at all. We doubt. And Jesus knows that. He knows that so many people are going to say, “I’m just not sure that my prayer will work. I’m not all that good at praying really. I don’t honestly know what to say.” Well, “Ask and you will receive.” “I’m not sure Lord.” “Look, just seek and you will find.” “Well, I don’t know.” “Go on, all you have to do is knock and the door will be opened.” “But what if prayer is only for people with super faith, and not for the likes of me?” “Everyone,” Jesus says, “who asks, receives; those who seek find; and to all those who knock, the door will be opened.” He ends up saying it six times.

If we come to prayer riddled with doubts, we also struggle with fear. “Lord, what if something bad happens? What if he says I have to give all my money away? What if he calls me to be a nun? So Jesus says, “Look: Supposing one of you is a father and it’s tea time and you say to your kids, “what would you like for tea?” And they all say, “Dad, can we have fish fingers? So you say, “Okay I’ll go and get some” - Jesus doesn’t actually mention the exact form of the fish by the way!

So you go down to your local exotic pet shop and say, “Do you sell snakes?” And they say, “Yes, £150 a pair.” And so you buy them and take them back and say, “Look what Cap’n Birds Eye brought you today you ‘orrible kids.” And you throw a couple of rattlesnakes on the table to terrify them.

Supposing the next day you say to them, “Now then, what would you like for lunch?” And with quite a lot more hesitation than yesterday they say, “Well, maybe just a sandwich this time dad.” So you say, “Well, how would a cheese roll sound to you?” “Great,” they say. So you take a couple of large stones and paint them to look just like wholemeal bread rolls. Then, when your kids break their teeth on the stones, you fall down laughing.

Jesus says, “Now come on, when your children ask for sandwich, who honestly is going to give them a brick? Or if they ask for fish and chips, what kind of weirdo would give them a snake?

If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

Ending

I think I’ve said enough, so I’ll draw to a close now. “Our Father in heaven” is the perfect way to address the God who loves us, who feels for us, who knows us inside out – and who is all powerful, altogether wise, who reigns on high and who can do all things.

I believe that God is wanting, at this time, to teach us at All Saints’ how to pray because praying Christians are positive Christians and praying churches are prevailing churches.

Do you feel God is calling you to pray more like Jesus did? I want to give you an opportunity this morning to say “yes” and to respond…


Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 6th September 2009

Spiritual Warfare (Psalm 68.1-35)

Introduction

When I sat down last June and started asking God about what we should be teaching into through the autumn I felt that God impressed on me two things – and they are related.

Firstly, prayer. I think God is calling us to a deeper commitment to prayer. I said this morning that praying Christians are positive Christians. Because their eyes look up every day to what God might do it changes the way they think and talk and even look. And just as praying Christians tend to be positive Christians, praying churches tend to be prevailing churches. When a church gets it together and seeks God’s face and prays heaven down things happen; people come to Christ, people get filled with the Holy Spirit, amazing miracles occur more frequently, ministries are raised up and the church moves forward. I’ve seen it time and again – the key is consistent, passionate, believing, prayer.

Many of you stood last week to commit yourselves to pray more like Jesus prayed. How are you doing one week on? My guess is that some of you got on well; it was a move in the right direction and God is already honouring your stand of obedience to him. Probably some of you found it really hard and now you are back to square one. It’s no wonder; we are in a ferocious unseen battle. Which brings me to the second thing that I believe God is speaking to us about with new intensity; spiritual warfare.

We were thrown into in pretty heavy fighting back in the spring. The troubles that came upon us at that time bore the unmistakable marks of spiritual warfare and I don’t think we’re finished yet. I think the Lord is opening our eyes to what is going on around us in the spiritual realm. Never forget, we have a spiritual enemy, Satan, who hates us, who is resilient, who is organised, who is committed to our destruction and who operates in subtle ways to divide us and distract us from our mission. And I want to say this: make no mistake, when the church wakes up and proclaims the Gospel and does the mighty works of the kingdom in Jesus’ name, the devil never sits back and says, “Oh, I just can’t be bothered with this.”

So expect trouble this term. Because this autumn, we are committed to proclaiming the kingdom and demonstrating its power; let me give you some examples of that. Healing on the streets is being extended into the autumn because people are being healed and we want to go with the momentum God has given us. The youth ministry is going to be opening its after-school drop-in this month. Back to Church Sunday on September 27th will give our morning congregations an opportunity to connect with people who have drifted away. Alpha begins in October and people are beginning to sign up. Town pastors are going to be on the streets of Stockton in early December. And there’s more. I hope you’re excited. I hope you’re motivated and up for it. The church is looking out, not in, and we are going to speak the words of the kingdom and do the works of the kingdom.

Battle Cry

The expression “Let God Arise” from our Psalm tonight is a battle cry of spiritual warfare. David, who wrote the psalm, got the whole of Israel to call it out. It’s a passionate shout of faith that God will suddenly manifest his power and put the enemy under his feet. “Let God Arise and let his enemies be scattered.”

But the battle cry “let God arise” did not originate with David. It was first spoken by Moses when he was leading his people out from Egypt into the Promised Land. So, in Numbers 10.35 Moses says, “Rise up, Lord! May your enemies be scattered; may your foes flee before you.” Whenever they broke camp and set out with the ark of God’s presence the whole nation roared those words. It’s the rallying call of a people on the move.

So for these Israelites, camping in the desert, waiting to enter the Promised Land, whenever they heard “Let God Arise" it signalled change. It was the signal of a new direction. It meant leaving familiar things behind, and moving forward into the unknown.

If human nature runs true to form (and it usually does), my guess is that not everyone in the camp of Israel was always anxious to move when the cloud of God’s glory moved. I bet when they heard the cry “Let God arise,” some thought “Oh no, here we go again, we were just getting comfortable here.” Most people like the security and sameness of routine in everyday life. But there comes a time to move on and make progress – and I believe we are in such a time here at All Saints’.

Praise and Testimony

In 2 Corinthians 6 Paul talks about “weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left” and, as I read this battle psalm this week I found two weapons of righteousness; praise and testimony.

Praise is powerful in spiritual warfare. Some of Israel’s physical battles were won through praise alone. They demolished the stronghold of Jericho by marching and praising. Gideon defeated the Midianites with a tiny army who raised a shout and sounded the trumpet. Jehoshaphat’s army defeated a coalition of kings because he sent the worship leaders out in front. They routed the enemy without even drawing a sword.

So v3, after the battle cry “Let God arise and let his enemies be scattered,” comes this mighty weapon of praise.   

"May the righteous be glad and rejoice before God;
may they be happy and joyful.
Sing to God, sing in praise of his name,
extol him who rides on the clouds;
rejoice before him - his name is the Lord.
A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows,
is God in his holy dwelling.
God sets the lonely in families,
he leads out the prisoners with singing…"

One of the first books I read as a Christian was “Prison to Praise” by Merlin Carothers. It opened my mind to see how easily we allow ourselves to be defeated by discouragements and disappointments and how, simply by praising God in all circumstances, even the worst, we see God can transform situations unrecognisably. This is what happened to Paul and Silas in Acts 16. Finding themselves beaten up, in prison, chained up, under lock and key and miles from home – they praised God together at the top of their voices – and they saw God mightily deliver them. Praise is a mighty weapon.

Verse 19:
“Praise be to the Lord, to God our Saviour, 
who daily bears our burdens.
Our God is a God who saves; 
from the Sovereign Lord comes escape from death.”

Verse 25 – this is talking about spiritual warfare when the enemies of God are scattered:
“In front are the singers, after them the musicians; 
with them are the young women playing the timbrels.
Praise God in the great congregation; 
praise the Lord in the assembly of Israel.”

And verse 32:
“Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth, sing praise to the Lord,
to him who rides the ancient skies above, who thunders with mighty voice.
Proclaim the power of God,
whose majesty is over Israel, whose power is in the skies.”

The second weapon of righteousness is testimony. The devil hates it when Christians speak up about what God has done. He hates it when God gets the glory because he wants it all himself. Every time we testify about God’s saving power, every time we stand up and give God the credit for his amazing works in our lives, it hits Satan below the belt. So, in the context of this great battle cry psalm, David speaks out the stories of God’s mighty acts.

So v7-11 say this:
“When you, God, went out before your people,
when you marched through the wilderness,
the earth shook, the heavens poured down rain,
before God, the One of Sinai, before God, the God of Israel.
You gave abundant showers, O God; you refreshed your weary inheritance.
Your people settled in it, and from your bounty, God, you provided for the poor.
The Lord announced the word,
and great was the company of those who proclaimed it.”

And then v12-24 tell the story about how God scattered the enemy nations who delight in war and came to the defence of his people by giving them a great victory.

Ending

I’m going to end there, because I want to leave plenty of room tonight for praise and for our testimony. Revelation 12.11 says, “[Our brothers and sisters] triumphed over [their accuser who accuses them… day and night] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.

So, before we worship again, I want to open up the floor for people to say what God has been doing in their lives over the summer. I believe each shout of praise, each testimony will be like a blow struck with the weapons of righteousness God has placed in our hands.

…

Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 6th September 2009